Stowesley vs Hibs

The first big derby game of the season between Stokesley and Hibs saw Stokesley without Captain Chinola and keeper Stainsby, both away tax-dodging in Newcastle, and Largie with Fawce returning from a two match absence (just in time for the final!), Craig Hutton slotting back in after missing the mid-week draw with Ossy Rangers and Ian Mark appearing between the sticks. Hibs, needed a win to keep their Championship hopes alive, were without Big Red at the back and both the Escritt brothers.

The game kicked off with Stokesley creating the early running, with Hibs not really being able to find their feet on the bobbly pitch and the fact the only pre-match warm up some of the players had was listening to the Rocky themetune on the trip over to Broughton Road. However, no clear-cut chances were created as Dowson in the Hibs goal keeping the Stokesley strikeforce of Left Pegger and BushBishlak at bay.

The breakthrough for Stokesley came after about the quarter hour mark, when a corner from the left hand side from Skipper Pughie was only half cleared and Scouse John returned a high ball in from the left, which caused problems for the Hibs defence and Dowson, under pressure from BushBishlak, could only punch the ball behind him and into the back of his own net.

Hibs then decided to try and push for a quick equaliser and changed to playing three at the back, pushing the extra man into midfield, which saw Hutton have to drop a little deeper from his free-role in midfield to help out Harry and Pughie from being over-run. A forced substitution also saw 'Machine-Gun' Kelly being replaced by the late Nipper. Machine-Gun, already looking like he was suffering from a dodgy knee, was caught by a crunching (but good) tackle from Richie out by the right hand touchline. The change, although did see Hibs start to come back into the game, did not create any clear chances for the visitors as the defence kept firm. The rest of the half was fairly even, and the score remained the same until half-time.

Hibs started the second half brightest, with DLF and Pazza obviously letting their team know that the title was slipping away, and, more importantly, that they would be tortured if they were beaten by their local rivals, and were playing the better football, although still not creating any real problems for Mark in goal. Hibs main hope looked like coming from set pieces, with Houlgate, Chris Hore, Rio and DLF (hang on, i might have got that last one wrong!) being the main aerial targets for Hibs from corners and dangerous free-kicks. Nightsy and Fawce, however, seemed to connect with most of them and clear out of harms way.

20 minutes into the second half and Hibs had their best chance to equalise when a cross from their right hand side found Nipper, who connected with a diving header just inside the area, only to see his bottom corner bound effort tipped round the post with a brilliant save from Mark. Not long after Mole, switched to the left wing back role after playing centre back on the previous Tuesday, came off to a rapturous applause and was replaced by Thomas Hobolob.

Then, the turning point of the game (?!?) as Pazza's weary legs were called into action as a Hibs defender had to come off injured. Stokesley, against the run of play, created a counter-attack when the ball found Scouse John on the right hand side, who produced a peach of a ball into the area, where Left Pegger (who dare i say, is becoming prolific!) brought the ball down and dispatched the ball past Dowson and into the back of the net, with only quarter of an hour left. Shaun then came on to replace BushBishlak up front, and the change almost proved instant when a nice one two on the right hand side was followed by a good cross, which found the sub in front of goal, only to see his header sail just over the crossbar.

5 minutes later and Pazza had had enough and was replaced when he became injured. With time running out for Hibs, in the title race as well as the match, they pushed Houlgate up front as a target man, with Harry dropping back with him and doing a good job of keeping him quiet. However, Hibs could not break the Stokesley stubborn resistance at the back and had to suffer a defeat at the hands of their neighbours.

Stokesley can now look forward to their Cup Final against NY Unison on Sunday at Northallerton Town unbeaten.

Man of the Match for Stokesley was Richie, and Rio (Lard) for the Hibs. Quality obviously runs in the family!

Stokesley Team: Mark, Nightsy, Richie, Fawce, Mole (Hobolob), Scouse John, Pughie, Harry, Hutton, Left Pegger, BushBishlak (Shaun)

Subs: Graingey

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